Join Pastor Rick Warren as he explores the profound lessons from the final words of Jesus on the cross. In this insightful episode, discover how acts of sacrificial love and compassion can lead to profound transformations, even in those we disagree with. Understand how reaching out to those unlike us can make us truly reflect Christ’s nature in our daily lives.
00:00:02 Introduction to The Seven Greatest Words of Love
Thanks for joining us here today on Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope, the audio broadcast ministry of Pastor Rick Warren. Today we continue in a series called The Seven Greatest Words of Love. There are seven words in particular that Jesus spoke during his final hours on the cross. that hold the keys for finding fulfillment in your life, relationships, and even your career. Right now, here’s Pastor Rick with the final part of a message called The Word of Humanity.
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The most Christ-like service is to enemies. I am most like Jesus. You are most like Jesus. When you’re helping people you totally disagree with, You don’t like their lifestyle. You don’t like their politics. You don’t like their breath. You don’t like the way they look. You don’t like their culture. You don’t like the way they talk and on and on and on. You are most like Jesus when you respond with kindness to the people who don’t like you. When you’re building bridge bridges to people like that. Jesus said this, the Bible says this in Proverbs 25, if your enemies are hungry, give them food, and if they’re thirsty, give them water to drink. During World War II, the Nazis did not just send Jews to the concentration camps. They sent six million Jews, but they also sent Christians, and they sent gays, and they sent gypsies, and they sent communists, and anybody else they just didn’t like. Nicholas Byrd Yaev was a communist who was sent to one of the death camps because of his communism. And he was converted and became a Christian there because of the witness of a single Christian woman He said that one day the Nazi officer came out and began to call off the numbers of the prisoners that were to be gassed that day. And one of them was a young mother with a child that she had given birth to in the concentration camp. And she was scared to death that she was going to leave a baby, a little baby, and she was going to die. But a Christian woman saw this taking place. and realized that the Nazi didn’t care about who it was, just cared about the number. So she walked up to the thing and said, I’m that number. And she went to her death. And Nicholas, a communist, came to Christ because that woman was willing to give her life for the Jewish lady. This act of sacrificial love so impacted him, he said, I’ve gotta know this, Jesus. Does your life make anybody thirsty for Jesus? People say you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink, but you can salt the oats. And the Bible says we are to be salt in the world. We are to make people thirsty to know God. By our love, not by our words, by our kindness, not by our protest, by our compassion, not by what we’re against. But the little acts of service that we do every single day, that’s the big stuff. The most Christ-like service is to enemies. Are you willing to suffer for the benefit of others knowing Jesus? Now let’s go to this third section. We looked at Jesus’ thirst. We looked at the thirst of others around you. What about your own thirst? The things that you’re just so unsatisfied about. You’re not fulfilled about. You just have that ache. You just have that scratch. You just have that itch. And how do you get your own thirst satisfied? So the Bible says you do three things. Write these down. Here’s the only way you’re ever gonna get your life satisfied in life. Number one, first thing, realize what I’m really thirsty for. I need to realize what I’m really thirsty for. What I think I want is not really gonna make me happy. What I think I want is not really gonna fulfill me. You know, we live in this world of if I could just, and then you fill in the blank. If I could just get married, then I’d be totally fulfilled. Anybody wanna give a testimony? Okay. Anybody wanna stand up and say, that one ain’t true. Okay. If I could just get a boyfriend, if we could just, If I could just get a job, if I could just graduate, if we could just have a baby, you have all of these, they’re all good things, but they’re not gonna bring you ultimate satisfaction. They’re not gonna slake your spiritual thirst. You gotta realize what you’re really thirsty for. You’re looking in all the wrong places. There is no person, there is no job, there is no experience that could possibly meet all your needs. None, zero, nada, zip, none. There’s only one person who can meet all your needs, it’s God. Anytime I look to anything else to provide my fulfillment in life, job, golf, or anything else, I’ve turned it into an idol. An idol is expecting something to fulfill in my life, but only God can fulfill. That’s an idol. You have idols. You have things in your life you expect to be fulfilling to you that only God can fulfill. And so we’ve gotta start by realizing what I’m really thirsty for. Look at these verses. Psalm 63. Oh God, you are my God and I long for you. My whole being desires you. Like a dry, worn out, waterless land, my soul is thirsty for you. You have a God-shaped hole in your life and nothing is gonna fill that hole except God. Jesus said in Matthew 5, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. They will be filled. Only God can satisfy your need. And the more you get to know him, the more satisfied, the more fulfilled, the more happy you’re going to be in life. Realize what I’m really thirsty for. You were made for your creator, and when you’re separated from him, you’re going to be restless until you get to know him. Number two, I realize that what I’m really thirsty for, number two, I realize that Jesus feels my pain. He understands it, he feels it. Jesus understands your needs better than you do, and he understands your pain better than you do. The pain you’re going through right now. Isaiah 53, verse 35 says this. He, Jesus, took our suffering on himself and felt our pain more. for us. He took our suffering on himself and felt our pain for us. He was wounded for the wrongs we did. He was crushed for the evil we did. The punishment which made us well was given to him and we are healed because of his wounds. How many wounds did Jesus have on the cross? Well, we know at least 365. Two in his hands, two in his feet, one in his side, wounds on his head from the thorns, the 360 lashes on his back. We are healed by his wounds. Now let me just say this. Some of you are in, or face chronic pain all the time. I’m talking about physical pain. You just don’t feel good. For whatever reason, your back or your body or something, you are in constant chronic pain. I’m sorry. Jesus Christ understands chronic pain. He knows what chronic pain feels like. Some of you are in emotional pain. from a discouragement, from a defeat, from a disappointment, from a rejection, from a betrayal, from a broken dream, Jesus understands your pain. Some of you are in spiritual pain. You’re in mental pain. Jesus understands your pain. He understands it. The Bible says in Hebrews 4, 15, look at this verse on the screen. Our high priest, that’s Jesus, understands our weaknesses for he faced all of the same temptations we do and he didn’t sin. He didn’t sin. He understands what you’re going through. Realize what you’re really thirsty for and realize he understands your needs and understands your pain. Number three, third thing, stop looking for fulfillment elsewhere. Stop looking for fulfillment elsewhere. You know, we’re always looking for a panacea. If I could just get a different job. If I could just, then you fill in the blank. We’re always looking somewhere else. Looking for life in all the wrong places, looking for love in all the wrong places, looking for fulfillment in all the wrong places. And it isn’t gonna work. In the Bible, God says this, Jeremiah chapter two. My people have done two evils. They’ve turned away from me, that’s the first thing, the spring of living water, and he says they’ve dug their own wells, which are broken wells, and can’t hold water. You know what the problem with you is? Why you’re unfulfilled? Two things. One, you turned your back on me. And second, you’re digging your own well, thinking, you know, if I just do this project, then I’ll be fulfilled. If I just do this, then I’ll be fulfilled. If I just do that, then I’ll be fulfilled. What wells have you dug in your life that ended up dry? And you’re out here digging a well, digging a well, and Niagara Falls is right behind you. And you go, what are we thinking? God says, I have all the water in the world. I can fulfill every one of your deepest needs. But you’re over here digging a well. Thinking, if I just get this job, if I just get this relationship, if I just make this much money, if I just, if I, and you’re digging a well. And he goes, that’s dumb. Niagara Falls is right behind you. It’s like trying to, you know, capture a fire hydrant in a thimble. You can’t handle all the blessings God’s got for you. John chapter seven, Jesus said this. On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood up and shouted, shouted. He didn’t just whisper this. He shouted to the crowd. And what did Jesus say to the whole crowd that he shouted out in top voice? If you are thirsty, real simple, come to me. That’s about as simple as you can get. You don’t go to McDonald’s. You don’t go to Starbucks. You come to me. If you’re spiritually, emotionally thirsty, if your life is unfulfilled, if you’re bored, if you’re frustrated, if you lack meaning, if you just go, there’s got to be more to life than this, come to me. He doesn’t say come to religion. He doesn’t say come to church. He doesn’t say come to Bible study. He says come to me. The only thing that’s going to fulfill you is an intimate relationship with God. Because that’s what you were made for. And most people go through life and miss the thing they were made for. What wells have you dug when Niagara Falls is right behind you? He says, if you are thirsty, come to me. If you believe in me, come and drink. For the scriptures declare that rivers of living water will flow out from within. He said, I’m not gonna give you a glass of water. I’m not gonna give you a bottle of water. I’m not even gonna give you a pool of water. I’m gonna put a river through your life. You’re never gonna be thirsty again. You see, here’s the problem. When we’re digging wells, sin makes you thirsty. Anytime you try to find your thirst mastered by anything else besides God, you get thirstier. Sin is addicting. You don’t believe it? Try pornography. You look one time. You can’t just look one time. Every sin is addicting, every single sin. If you get angry, you don’t just get angry one time in your life, that’s it, you get angry over and over and over and over and over. If you get impatient, you don’t just get impatient once in your life, you get impatient over and over and over. It is addicting, it doesn’t fulfill, it doesn’t slake your thirst, it doesn’t quench your thirst. But Jesus satisfies, he says, I’ll put a spring within you. Last verse on your outline. Jesus said this, people soon become thirsty again after drinking this water, the water of the world. But the water I give them takes away thirst. That’s an amazing kind of water. Takes away thirst altogether. It becomes a perpetual spring within them, giving them eternal life. So let me reinterpret it. If you feel unsatisfied with your life right now, there’s a word for that, you’re thirsty. You’re spiritually thirsty. And the only one who can slake that thirst, quench that thirst, is Jesus Christ. Only the one who on the cross said, I thirst, can take away your thirst. And you know what? When Jesus on the cross said, I’m thirsty, I hate to tell you this, but he’s still thirsty today. You say, what do you mean by that? He’s thirsty for you to know him. It’s the reason he made you. He made you to know him and he’s thirsty for you to know him. Let’s bow our heads. Would you pray this prayer? Dear God, I have been thirsty for so many different things in my life that I thought would satisfy me but they have not. I have looked to relationships, and looked to accomplishments, and I’ve looked to hobbies, and I’ve looked at so many different things to fulfill my life, but I’m still thirsty. And Lord, it’s like one of those drinks that when you drink it, it just makes you more thirsty. Thank you, Jesus Christ. Thank you that you feel my pain. that you know what it’s like to go through suffering, that you know what it’s like to be rejected, to be criticized, to be misunderstood, to be betrayed. Lord, you’ve been through everything and you know the pain in my own heart. You know my physical pains because you made my body. You know my emotional pains because you made my heart. You know my mental pains because you made my mind. Thank you that you care about my thirst. Today I want to stop looking for fulfillment everywhere else. I’m going to stop digging my own wells and I’m going to turn around to Niagara. You said if you’re thirsty, come to me. So I’m coming to you right now I don’t want any idols in my life, things that I’ve tried to find satisfaction in that have just disappointed me. I want to tear down the idols in my life and I want you to put a river of living water in me. Jesus Christ, I want to know you personally. I want to have a relationship with you. Thank you that you died on the cross for me. Thank you that you were truly human and that you were truly God and that you showed how much you love me by dying for me on the cross. God, in gratitude, I wanna give the rest of my life serving you. I wanna serve you by serving others, even if that means giving a cup of cold water to a child. or changing a diaper or helping an elderly person across the street. I wanna do everything in your name. Thank you that you notice the smallest service. And God even helped me with that one about serving my enemies. You said if my enemies are hungry, I’m gonna give them food and if they’re thirsty, I’m gonna give them water. Lord, I really don’t wanna do that. There are people I don’t like. But you died for them just like you died for me. And I pray that nothing in my life would keep them from knowing you. And just as the story of the man who took the elderly gentleman to the bathroom caused people to come to know your love, I want my life every day to make people thirsty for you. And I ask you to use me for your sake and your name this next week to meet the thirsty needs of people around me. I want to do it in gratitude. And I pray this in your name. Amen.
SPEAKER 01 :
Such a great message by Rick today and every day. I sure hope you were just as encouraged as I was. And now here’s Rick to tell you about a resource that he created to help you in your walk with Jesus.
SPEAKER 02 :
You know, as we close today, I just want to say thank you for joining me in today’s broadcast. I want to encourage you in another way through my free Daily Hope devotionals. Are you getting those? These Daily Hope devotionals are a summarization of many of the things that I teach on the broadcast. All you got to do is just go to my website, PastorRick.com, and you can sign up for the daily devotionals. They’re free. They’ll be delivered free to your inbox seven days a week. And I want to help you in this other way. It’s another way of reinforcing your spiritual growth.
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Be sure to join us next time as we look into God’s Word for our Daily Hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope and your generous financial support.
